I have given the Mac mini a good workout over the last few weeks. I have the entry level mini with standard 256 mb RAM. I use it for communicating and internet stuff. I also have a 'loaded' G5 - so I can make a judgment on the mini's performance.

Mostly active at the same time are Safari, Mail, iPhoto, iTunes, Speed Downloader, Audio HiJack, MS Instant Messenger and the amazing Skype! I also use Tomato Torrent, Windows Media Player, DVD Player and I tested Garageband. Except Garageband all of the above work like a charm! GB hicks up a bit and needs to be alone - no other applications active - to be able to play songs - but the complexity of the supplied demo songs is the maximum it can handle.

On the whole this is an impressive little machine! My favorite experience with it was to talk live with my sister via the bluetooth headset with Skype half way around the globe, edit & sort pictures taken with iSight and a digital camera there & then, bounce pictures back & forth with Messenger and browse the web to explore sites together. We were both on low speed home ADSL connections and things just flowed - what more do you want??

BTW - I have no brightness issues with this screen - as reported by others regarding some 3rd party screens. If anything it's too bright - I usually have the brightness turned down to 80%.